Supernaut

Songs, Soul, And A Small-Town Stage - Luke

Supernaut

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0:00 | 26:21

A two-string ukulele, an eight-track buzzing with Johnny Cash, and a kid who couldn’t stop pretending the ottoman was a stage—that’s where Luke's story starts. Years later, he’s a bar and restaurant owner with a nine-song record called Based on a True Story, and a life that proves craft and community can share the same roof. We sit down to map the journey from garage bands and school pop groups to the late mentor who said, lock the door and learn to sing while you play. The advice stuck, and so did the instinct to write from life: divorce, new love, and those charged nights that blur into a lyric before they become a memory.

Luke walks us through his writing process—why chords often arrive first, how a line can land whole in six minutes, and why a melody can carry more honesty than a conversation. We trade notes on Dylan, Neil Young, and Lennon’s Imagine, using them as North Stars for songs that do more than entertain; they mark us. Then the scene shifts to 125 Tavern, the space Luke and Maria built with high ceilings, sandstone walls, and a tight menu where quality wins. Thousands of flatbreads later, the place has a vibe people seek out, the kind where a stranger becomes a regular before the second slice.

We also talk about the toll and the payoff: long hours, fast turns, and the quiet gratification of serving well. Luke keeps his beliefs simple—live your life, let others live theirs, be kind—and reflects on how community sees him: vibrant, devoted, relentless, expressive, a little untamed. He admits writing a song is still the hardest job he knows, which might be why the urge to get back on stage keeps tapping him on the shoulder. If you’ve ever wondered how art, work, and home can fit together without losing their edges, this conversation offers a candid, grounded blueprint.

If this story hit a chord, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review—what lyric or meal brought you back to yourself?


0:00 Meet Luke

0:24 Bob Dylan And Early Sparks

2:04 Ukulele To Garage Band Beginnings

3:22 Finding Voice And Stage Nerves

5:55 Why Music Heals And Transports

5:55 Original Album And Honest Lyrics

7:21 Writing Process And Creativity

9:46 Songs We Wish We Wrote

10:39 Performing, Persona, And Connection

12:41 Opening 125 Tavern

14:44 Vibe, Menu, And Daily Rush

16:47 Naming, Numbers, And New Beginnings

18:24 Exhaustion, Rewards, And Routine

19:33 Getting Back On Stage

21:04 Dream Guests And Manifesting

21:42 Belief, Nonjudgment, And Purpose

22:30 How People See Luke

24:08 Food, Legacy, And Self Control

26:19 Closing Reflections

Meet Luke Fisner

SPEAKER_03

Welcome to Supernaut, where we explore the inner and outer dimensions of the self. Today Luke Fisner is joining us. Luke is a musician, a bar and restaurant owner. He is a friend and he is a family member to so many people, and I'm excited to get some time with him to learn more about what music and life means to him. So I asked you to pick a song for us to listen to together before we started so we could get on the same frequency. What song did you pick?

SPEAKER_02

That was uh Bob Dylan, Simple Twist of Fate. Um it's one of my faves, so it's just got a nice flow.

SPEAKER_03

Mm-hmm. Do you remember the first time you heard it?

SPEAKER_02

Ooh, geez. I don't know maybe 30 years ago. I don't know. When I was getting into music, Bob Dylan was one of them. And uh yeah, it's just always been one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_03

He's been one of the big influences.

SPEAKER_02

Neil Young, Petty, Springsteen, the singer-songwriters, the good ones. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

When did you know that music was more than just music to you, but it was a part of you?

SPEAKER_02

Um probably when I was like four or five years old, we had a little ukulele in our house with two strings on it. And uh, we had our eight track and would put Johnny Cash in there, and Elvis Presley, and I'd get on the auto man and sit up there like I was a rock star. And like my mom would say, Yeah, someday you'll I think you're gonna be an entertainer, Luke. So that's later on in life, it kind of happened.

SPEAKER_03

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I always wanted music to be a big theme of the podcast, so I'm so excited to talk to you. I have so many questions about music. Um, that's so great that at such a young age.

SPEAKER_02

And yeah, let's see. And then like in seventh grade, your I took guitar lessons from your brother, Steve. Oh, just really learned some G C's and D's, and because he had a band and kind of looked up to him and well, we want to do that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Ukulele To Garage Band Beginnings

SPEAKER_02

So we started a little garage band in seventh, eighth, ninth grade, we learned our eight songs that we knew, and we thought we were rock pads.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, that's so cool. I didn't know that. So he was like a senior, maybe, and you were like seventh, eighth grade?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, well, yeah. He was class 89, I was 93.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

But we uh looked up to the band stunned and whatnot, and our band was called Iron Angels.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, love that. Was it hard to find other band members, or did you find people right away?

SPEAKER_02

It's just our little rap pack group, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I feel like music can never be quite like it was back then where it was because now there's so technology and so many other little videos to look into, so many other things to do. But back then I feel like it was music that bonded you together. Um, when I was a teenager looking at my brother's pictures of him and his band and the long hair and everything, I was like so envious of why I couldn't have I been older and been able to grow up in that in that era with them, especially, you know?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it was a really good era for when all those guys are coming out.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, Bob Dylan, Springsteen, like yeah. Well, ev everybody, you know, just changing lives.

SPEAKER_02

It was good times, good music, yeah. Still around today. Or it lives on, you know, it always lives on.

Finding Voice And Stage Nerves

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Any other instruments that you learned?

SPEAKER_02

Uh learned the mouth organ, harmonica. Well, uh I used to deliver medical supplies, and that's when I discovered Neil Young. It was sometime after St. Cloud State. I was probably 20, I don't know. Went and bought a harmonica, and I think uh that still had tape decks in the thing. I put the tape in and just copy what he was doing to heart of gold to learn by ear. And I can play a little piano, but I don't uh but guitar, slide guitar.

SPEAKER_03

When did you start singing?

SPEAKER_02

Singing took me a while. Um it was probably I was about 19. After I came home from Hibbean Community College, uh, lived the summer at you know my mom's house, and uh I used to hang out with Harry Kent, the late great Harry Kent, and he'd come over and play the guitar and sing and teach me stuff, or I'd listen to him and I envied what he could do. And like, how do you play and sing at the same time? How do you do that? I can't do that. You know, I can just strum. And he's like, Well, you just gotta uh go pick one of your favorite songs, lock yourself in your room, and like don't come out and tell you figure it out and just do it, just repetitiveness and just find it. And I did.

SPEAKER_03

That's great advice.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, he was influenced me.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Were you nervous to sing before that and wanted to, or just hasn't really crossed your mind?

SPEAKER_02

I wasn't ner nervous about it because I tried out for the plays and I got picked for pop group in choir, you know, where you're you're the one in the front singing and dancing.

SPEAKER_03

So you were always in entertainment.

SPEAKER_02

Keith Lester's like, we got a good voice, you're gonna do this. And I'm like, well, I don't want to do that. Like I thought it wasn't cool to be in the pop group, but did it anyway. And it was fun, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Awesome. What did music give you that nothing else could?

unknown

What did music give me?

SPEAKER_02

I just think uh music is good for your heart and soul. It it takes you to another place. You can just drift off with it or escape into it. Escape and love it. You gotta love it.

SPEAKER_03

Uh so you released a nine-song original album called Based on a True Story. We'll show a picture of that. Uh where did that title come from?

SPEAKER_02

Uh because most of the songs are truthful life events, circumstances, what have you. So I just thought that's this is true stuff. This this happened to me, or you know.

SPEAKER_03

Is it easier to be uh more honest in music and lyrics than it is in real life?

SPEAKER_02

Um I'd say yeah, these are pretty heartfelt lyrics, you know. Yeah, so I'd say so.

SPEAKER_03

Do you have a favorite lyric that you wrote?

SPEAKER_02

I was thinking about that when you texted me. Um I mean, there's a lot, but um it's hard to pick just one lyric. But I like I'll say I like the song ends with a teardrop, but starts like but we both walk off and carrying seven deadly sins. You know, walk in hand and off we went, you know, through the darkness to search for a light ahead. I thought that was kind of a good flow.

Writing Process And Creativity

SPEAKER_03

I just read in the book The Art of War that um in the first chapter, it talks about how Hitler went to art school and he went to architecture school, but he never painted, he never designed anything. So it was literally easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to be artistic. And like, because that's what this book is about the war of art, of how all of us are born with these skills and um this art inside of us, but it's so hard, so scary to actually do it. You know what I mean? So literally, it was easier for him to start World War II than to tap into his own art. And if he was able to tap into his art, if we had better systems in place, more um freedom to be creative, how much better could the world looked and could it look now? So, what's your process? Like, how did you actually write nine songs? Because that's huge. That's something that so many people want to do and can never do.

SPEAKER_02

Um well, I guess how they all came about is a life event. One's, you know, about divorce, one's about meeting Maria, my significant other now, and you know, I'd have to oh, table for two. It's just kind of a like a one-night stand kind of song, you know, like they're just how long does it take you to write each one? Some uh came really fast, like uh five minutes. It's just kind of a spur of the moment, and you just jot it down and then go back and edit, and oh this will sound better there, or you know, and just work it out. And then then you gotta bring get the chords to it, you know, or whatever. You just yeah, because which comes first thinking.

SPEAKER_03

Which comes first, like the lyric melody, or just the emotion of it.

SPEAKER_02

The chords kind of come first, and then try to think of some nice words to go to it. Yeah. And it just happened, like table for two took like, yeah, six minutes, the whole thing was written, and like it was something else c came to me and did it, kinda.

unknown

Yeah.

Songs We Wish We Wrote

SPEAKER_03

Is there anything you can do to tap into creativity that you know of that has worked before?

SPEAKER_02

I think it just happens. Yeah, for me it just happened that way.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Um, is there a song out there that you wish you had written?

SPEAKER_02

Oh well, probably every Bob Dylan and Neil Young song and Patty song.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Those guys are amazing.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, well, or Imagine by John Lennon. Just think if you wrote that song, I mean, I think there's not a soul in the world that doesn't know who wrote that song.

SPEAKER_03

So true. I still remember the first time I heard that song.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it gets you.

Performing, Persona, And Connection

SPEAKER_03

So when you're up on stage, is there um is there a part of you that can be somebody different than you are in everyday life? Does the entertainer in you come out at all? I guess I haven't been on stage in a while since we opened the tavern, but I thought the whole point of opening it was so that you could be on stage whenever you wanted.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I still can. I just but it's just it's just a different world right now. And um Yeah, I'd kind of get into a little care different character on nights I played, you know, in the cities or whatever, I'd throw my cool yellow glasses on and wear something a little different than what I would normally wear, probably. And then hit the stage and go at it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Is the goal to the goal of performing to create connection or release or understanding? Or like what is getting you to get up there?

SPEAKER_02

Just because I always knew I could do it, like I saw other people do it, and I'm like, well, I can be that one man band. Like I do it in my um my bedroom all the time or in front of the bathroom mirror, and I can I'm capable of it.

SPEAKER_03

Just because people are there doesn't change it.

SPEAKER_02

She gave me a shot and but and never stopped for 14 years.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And I was like, well, I'll take extra two, three hundred bucks a gig. So it it helped financially too.

SPEAKER_03

So what do you want people to feel when they're in the room watching you perform?

SPEAKER_02

Oh want them just uh I guess feel happy and like, wow, that's a great song. And like, God, he wow, that guy can play the harmonica. He's he's good, you know. And yeah, I like you know, get a little pat on the back when you take a break and you say thank you. Like you like it when somebody actually appreciates you or throws a$20 tip in there, and you know which guy did that. And you after a break, you go say thank you or shake his hand, and yeah, it's it's nice feeling.

SPEAKER_01

Mm-hmm.

Opening 125 Tavern

unknown

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, so getting into opening the bar, how did that decision come to be? Which, thank you, by the way. I mean, my favorite pizza in town, my favorite place to play trivia. It's the only bar that I go to anymore. It's so beautiful in there, it's so welcoming.

SPEAKER_02

You've got your NA Guinness.

SPEAKER_03

Everything about yes, I wrote you two weeks ago a picture of N.A. Guinness. I was like, would be awesome, and you hooked it up. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02

You're welcome. Uh the bar thing, um, well, the only I wasn't I moved up here back here four years ago or whatever, and I wasn't working besides doing eight or nine gigs um a month to make money, and I was kind of getting a little burnt out on it. But uh I had met Maria and she had surgery on her arm, and she was working at the Wellia Hospital, and long story short, they couldn't get her back on her you know, full-time shift or whatever. And so she she bought the building. Like I have nothing to do with it. I just put a lien on my house to do the construction loan and whatnot. And uh started planning that out and drew up plans, got a contractor, sent stuff to the state, and you know, went went to all the food places to sample food and pick what what we want and try what we want and to work on our menu, and and we were just gonna keep it simple, stupid, you know, and and what we do is quality over quantity, and our stuff sells every day. Like it's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_03

Well, and it's genius to like close at a decent time every night so that you don't have to deal with the drama and small town mora, nothing's after, yeah.

Vibe, Menu, And Daily Rush

SPEAKER_02

It's kind of a ghost town after 10 o'clock in Mora on most nights. Um, but yeah, that first year we opened up May 18th of 24, and to May of 25, we made 6,000 fat 6,527 flatbread pizzas. Oh and I think we're on pace to even surpass that when we get our next anniversary.

SPEAKER_03

Especially if you get the pickle one on the menu.

SPEAKER_02

It's on there. Okay, the pickle one's on there.

SPEAKER_03

Or no, I'm thinking the Buffalo Blast. That's the one that's the one I really want to do.

SPEAKER_02

How do you how do you get that? It's not even on the menu.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But it'll when we make new menus, there'll be some subtle changes, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So yeah, all that excitement of opening a place, what was the scariest part?

SPEAKER_02

Um just just seeing if people are gonna come through the door, you know, like you don't know.

SPEAKER_03

Like what has surprised you the most?

SPEAKER_02

Just that patrons come every day. It's and people are passing through from out of town. There's people I meet somebody new every day when they they Google us. I think we're at like a four-nine on the four nine stars or whatever, and they come there and they're like they look around and they get treated well and serviced well, and they just love it.

SPEAKER_03

What do you think is the magic that gets everybody in there?

SPEAKER_02

I just think uh I think the building has a good vibe.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

SPEAKER_02

Just the high ceilings, the sandstone walls, and the bars. Some of the decor that yeah, the bars like sexy and yeah, um yeah, and uh I I guess and Maria and myself treat every customer the same, you know, and welcome and thanks for coming and come, you know, just be friendly.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Just be friendly and nice.

SPEAKER_03

All of that together just makes for a magical place.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

How'd you come up with the name 125 Tavern?

Naming, Numbers, And New Beginnings

SPEAKER_02

Um, well, it's the address of it's on 125 Ray Road Avenue Southwest. So we picked 125 Tavern. And uh could we're gonna say saloon or bot, we didn't know. We just there was a bunch of names. I can't might have been Snake River Saloon at one time, but we stuck with that. And then if you Google 125, it's like an angelic number and prosperity and stuff. So Google that sometime and see what 125 means. It's kind of weird.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, well, you do that.

SPEAKER_02

125.

SPEAKER_03

That's wonderful. What do you hope people feel when they walk in the door?

SPEAKER_02

Well, some guy was just walked in there today and he's like, God, I just get a good vibe when I walk in here. Like, I just feel comfortable. He's like, I just he's just felt good. Some that guy was about 70 years old and he just had a bloody merry and watched some of the USA hockey game, and I'll be back. Yeah, good.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I believe that 100%. That's how I feel when I walk in.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, good.

SPEAKER_03

How have you changed since owning a bar?

SPEAKER_02

Exhaustion.

SPEAKER_03

Exhaustion.

SPEAKER_02

No, I'm I'm good. It's just I'm it's there's some long days. Like today it was a long eight hours. It was eight hours, but it's felt like 12.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, you don't get a brain.

SPEAKER_02

You know, it's you just running and running and yeah.

Exhaustion, Rewards, And Routine

SPEAKER_03

I was just talking with somebody about that, like oh Angie when she was here last week, of how yeah, I mean, eight-hour shift you're legally supposed to have some breaks, but not in the bar.

SPEAKER_02

I take breaks, but it's just we're there all day, every day, except for Tuesdays. And Tuesdays we still go check on the refrigeration systems and check it out, but yeah, it's it's exhausting and tiring, but it's worth it. So I wouldn't want to do anything else, like work for somebody else. It's fun to have the gig with Maria. It's fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Did you find that? Angel number 125 is a source of hope and inspiration for the ones who desire to get up on their feet and give life a second chance.

SPEAKER_02

So it kind of it was I don't know, maybe it was just meant to be me moving back here and meeting Maria and whole second life. Just kind of yeah, I kind of started a whole new life up here. Like you know, my kids are growing up now, and yeah, so it's good to be home.

Getting Back On Stage

SPEAKER_03

Is it harder to write a song or run a bar and restaurant?

SPEAKER_02

Probably harder to write a song. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Well, when are you gonna get back up there and perform?

SPEAKER_02

Well, there's an open date Saturday, March 21st. If I get some energy and desire to play again because I'm lacking it, you know, it's just I haven't practiced for a while, but kinda miss it. But maybe in March. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03

It it's I would write that on my calendar right now and say I'm gonna be there, but I wrote on my calendar today that I'm going to a pickle party that day where everybody who goes has to make something that has pickles in it, which is gonna be super fun. And I'm really excited.

SPEAKER_02

Otherwise, so you're gonna make something?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, last year.

SPEAKER_02

So you come to the tavern and just pick up some pickle wraps. Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Then you don't know or a the pickle pizza.

SPEAKER_02

There you go.

SPEAKER_03

So great, yes. Because I can't even remember what I made. Last year I made pickle flavored check smex. Um, but this year I will bring pickle pizza or pickle well, yeah. The roll-ups. Yeah. Yeah. But I'd have to get like 20 orders and that would be really expensive.

SPEAKER_02

Probably.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Um, so who would be your dream performer to come play at the tavern? Anyone in the world.

SPEAKER_02

Anybody anybody like anybody alive.

SPEAKER_01

Alive?

SPEAKER_02

I think Neil Young would be cool to just come in there and rocket for a little bit.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Heart of God.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, well, yeah, so many other songs. So many songs. Yeah, that yeah, him? Dylan? I don't know. Willie Nelson.

SPEAKER_03

Let's manifest it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, more is kinda on the map.

SPEAKER_02

Kinda. Getting there.

Belief, Nonjudgment, And Purpose

SPEAKER_03

Okay, so Supernaut's big theme is spirituality, or one of the big themes. So I've never asked you before what do you believe in?

SPEAKER_02

What do I believe in?

SPEAKER_03

Why do you think we're here?

SPEAKER_02

Why do I think we're here? I think I don't know. Somebody put us here and they gave us a Life to live and what you do in that time is up to you. And believe what you want to believe.

SPEAKER_03

Do what you gotta do and uh believe in not judging people for what they believe, just do what you do.

SPEAKER_02

Do what you do, be your just do what you do. And it's no no big deal to me what you do. Like yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, so now we're on to the segment where I reveal to you how people see you.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_03

I asked you to give me the names and numbers of people I could reach out to that know you really well, and then I asked them to describe you in adjectives, six or seven adjectives, and then I put those in the themes because we do this because I think it's just really hard for us to see ourselves how other people see us.

SPEAKER_02

Sure.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, you don't. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

Food, Legacy, And Self Control

SPEAKER_03

So your first word is vibrant, because you're charismatic, electric, commanding, funny, stylish, ris rhythmic, musical, and mysterious. And your second word is devoted. This is how you show up for people. You're kind-hearted, loving, supporting, encouraging, loyal, attentive, thoughtful, compatible, and humble. And then third word is relentless, is two people said driven, competitive, passionate, two people said athletic, visionary, unafraid, and stubborn. Fourth word is expressive, because two people said creative, artistic, talented, soulful, authentic, confident, genuine, liberated, and observant. And fifth word is untamed because you're scattered, tense, fidgety, mischievous, complacent, carefree, self-centered, little selfish, curious. So your synopsis is you're the energy and the afterglow, the rhythm we feel long after the show, a kinetic fire with a perceptive soul, the song we know and never outgrow. Please remember you are not these words. You are not your thoughts. You are the space between the words, the space between the thoughts. You're the one who knows you have thoughts. Observe them, reflect on them, but know you are not them. Also, somebody described you as loving food and drinks and is always hungry. So what's your favorite food?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, my favorite food? Well, I love pizza.

SPEAKER_03

That's that was easy to go that direction with the tavern.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I mean, there's lots of things I like. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Yeah. What uh do you do right now that you hope your grandchildren do when they're your age?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I hope they're both musical. That would be nice. And uh hopefully they're just a good person, good people. I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

What do you do that you hope that they don't do? What vices do you still need to give up?

SPEAKER_02

Don't be like quite like your grandpa, but be like a quarter of them.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Like in what ways?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, just, you know. Just uh used to be that party boy back in the day, you know. But I just hope they're not like that. And my kids aren't like that. So hopefully they can pass that on to our kids.

SPEAKER_03

And what's wrong with partying?

SPEAKER_02

Nothing. I can get you in trouble.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Just have more self control. I I'm somebody who doesn't have self control, so I can say that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, something like that.

SPEAKER_03

Well, anything else that you thought we would talk about that we didn't get to? Anything you want to share?

SPEAKER_02

It's pretty good. Right?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Very good.

Closing Reflections

SPEAKER_02

It was a good time.

SPEAKER_03

Mm-hmm. Thanks so much for coming on.

SPEAKER_02

You're welcome.